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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/28811484">A suitable woman</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/UlsPi/pseuds/UlsPi'>UlsPi</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Game of Thrones (TV)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Adoption, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Bisexual Jaime Lannister, F/M, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Implied/Referenced Rape/Non-con, Modern Westeros, Queer Themes, Transphobia, trans Brienne of tarth</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-01-17</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-01-17</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-13 10:48:14</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>3,488</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/28811484</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/UlsPi/pseuds/UlsPi</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Brienne wants to adopt a child, but being a single trans woman, she's refused. Jaime is there to help her out by ... Marrying her.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Jaime Lannister/Brienne of Tarth</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>6</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>23</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>A suitable woman</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Hello and welcome! It's me again, and so, my Brienne is trans and my Cersei is horrible. If it's not something you'd want to read, then don't read it. I do love comments, but I can't handle hate.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>The prime minister is towering over the podium, just like he towers over everything. The reason for the press conference is another scandal in the army, and Tywin Lannister never escapes a challenge to his reputation or power. So he's here, while the chief of the general staff, general Barristan Selmy is glaring at his shoes, quite obviously ashamed of the whole affair.</p><p>Brienne is watching the setting. She wants her question to be one of the last since it's potentially sensational, and however little Brienne likes the very notion of sensationalism, in this case it might finally make the prime minister wince, which is something very few journalists have achieved. </p><p>"Here to wipe the floor with my father?" Jaime whispers, sliding in next to Brienne. He makes the plastic chair look like a throne because if such a handsome man sits on it, then it should be something worthy. Brienne turns to look at him. </p><p>"What are you doing here?"</p><p>"Supporting you. Supporting my father. I don't know. Love your lipstick."</p><p>Brienne doesn't blush - she's wearing enough foundation to make up for her unfortunate blood flow and pale skin, and the rich red of her lips does the job just fine. </p><p>"Thank you. Sansa chose it. It was a torture."</p><p>"Shopping with Sansa? Come on, it's fun."</p><p>"What did you shop for with Sansa?"</p><p>They are getting glares, so instead of continuing their conversation they giggle and school their faces to be serious and concerned. </p><p>Brienne raises her hand and gets picked by the prime minister. </p><p>"Brienne Tarth, King's Landing Times…"</p><p>"I know who you are, Ms Tarth."</p><p>Brienne can hear Jaime grunt under his nose something along the lines of <em> he'd better </em>. </p><p>"In the light of the revelations concerning Sgt Clegane and seeing how soon those revelations came after the process of Aerys Targaryen, do you think that the army needs to be under more scrupulous supervision from the non-governmental organisations?"</p><p>The room goes quiet. Tywin Lannister is notorious for practically banning the NGO access to the army information. </p><p>"Ms Tarth, as I'm sure you're well aware, we can't control who joins the NGOs in question. Our lenience has resulted in at least one accident of which you yourself were a part."</p><p>Everyone looks at Brienne, but she smiles, because as a woman - and she likes being a woman - she's expected to smile, and her lipstick makes her smile more… dangerous, or so Sansa told her. </p><p>"The accident you're referring to concerns the King's Guard, the NGO of which general Selmy himself approved…" She nods at Selmy who's about to turn his shoes into sandals by way of staring at them intensely. "The NGO which was only too happy to cover up for the crimes of general Targaryen."</p><p>By this point everyone has noticed Jaime, who's smiling and waving his robotic prosthetic in the air like a well-meaning Terminator. </p><p>Tywin Lannister grits his teeth. "Ms Tarth, I thought it was beneath you to bring Mr Lannister into it…"</p><p>"It is entirely beneath me, that's why I didn't ask him to be here. As you yourself well know, no one refuses your son access to… anything."</p><p>"I'm here out of my own free will," Jaime announces languidly. "I'm very pleased by Ms Tarth's question, but I would have advised against it."</p><p>Knowing Jaime's reputation, Brienne can be sure that no one will doubt it. Jaime is a brilliant reporter and interviewer, but he's cautious and never provocative. </p><p>"I think that this question needs to be addressed to the House. If the members of the House consider it necessary to grant extra access to various NGOs, then of course I will support their decision. And so will general Selmy. Thank you all."</p><p>"Charming," Jaime sighs. "Makes me miss the good old times…"</p><p>"You mean when we got caught up in the army mess, I was shot and you lost a hand? Sure, I miss it every day." Brienne gathers her things and moves to walk out of the room.</p><p>"A smoke?" Jaime offers. </p><p>"Fuck. Ok. You're terrible."</p><p> </p><p>***</p><p> </p><p>They are standing outside the Red Keep, housing all the government bodies, which incidentally was another question Brienne asked some time ago that resulted in a long public debate and a yet-to-be-enacted decision to move the court and the House out of the Keep, leaving it to the king and the public to become a museum when the king visits his family up North. The prime minister really doesn't want to move, insisting that it's a part of the cultural heritage for the head of the government to live and work in the Red Keep. Brienne wrote a fantastically sarcastic piece about Tywin Lannister welcoming tourisrs' ogling of his towering person as a part of cultural heritage.</p><p>"I think he's never gonna come to terms with the fact that Bran Stark was elected a king."</p><p>"We all know how totally <em> neutral </em> your father is," Brienne deadpans. She smokes casually but the damn lipstick leaves marks on her cigarette and Jaime hopes his pants are good enough to cover up his <em> fascination. </em></p><p>"He thought he could bypass that. Bitter old fuck, my father. It's been what, ten years? He wins every election and it's still not enough."</p><p>"What a lovely disappointment you are, Jaime!" Brienne laughs. She doesn't laugh much in public, having been told that her laugh is ugly, but she's well past that with Jaime, and Jaime cherishes it.</p><p>"No, that would be Tyrion. I'm the biggest disappointment!"</p><p>"Sorry. Didn't mean to undervalue your accomplishments."</p><p>"So… how are things?"</p><p>"By things you mean adoption?"</p><p>"Yes, mostly. That's what's bothering you, after all."</p><p>Brienne puts her cigarette down and tosses it into the nearest trashcan. "What do you know, in modern Westeros it's still hard for a single woman to adopt a child, let alone a trans woman." </p><p>"How the fuck did they know?"</p><p>"A <em> concerned citizen </em> phoned my agency. It proved to be enough."</p><p>"What the fuck! You should write about this! Make them regret it!"</p><p>"Well… yes. But if you remember, I did write a piece about it and see, it didn't help."</p><p>"What if you were married?"</p><p>"I'm not married, though. There's no queue outside my door."</p><p>"There should be. Let's get married. They won't refuse me and my wife."</p><p>"How very endorsing of you. So instead of fighting them I need to just live by their stupid standards?"</p><p>"You told me you want a family. Let's get you a family. We could write a piece together afterwards and expose the whole… shit."</p><p>"Jaime, I can't marry you. A fake marriage in my books is worse than being a trans. It is in fact a violation of their rules!"</p><p>"Screw them and their rules. You'll make an awesome mother!.. and my father wants me to marry…"</p><p>"Yeah, not like you want to marry me for my body," Brienne is teasing and even elbowing Jaime but there's a hint of bitterness in her voice. </p><p>"It was Hyle, right?" </p><p>"Yeah. He even called me to say that, and I quote, "you lying whore, you won't lie to anyone else"."</p><p>"I can have him killed. I'm serious, Brienne. My father is the prime minister. I'm gonna tell him that some transphobic piece of… transphobia insulted my wife. To be. My wife-to-be."</p><p>"You're serious?" Brienne looks at him, long and questioning. </p><p>"Brienne, we've been through… everything together. Raising a kid should be a piece of cake. And we're good friends."</p><p>"We'll need to talk it through, Jaime."</p><p>"Well, do it."</p><p>"Here?"</p><p>"Yes, here. We sort it out and go straight to the registrar's office. It's still here, despite your best efforts."</p><p>"Ok!" Brienne lights another cigarette which she pulls out of the pack in Jaime's back pocket and Jaime isn't ready for that touch, but hey, they are going to be married. Probably. "Speak."</p><p>"I'm marrying you. I like your flat. Has nice view. I could totally retire and be a stay-at-home dad! Oh, I'd love it actually! Gonna scandalise every mother on every playground."</p><p>"Tempting. You shouldn't, though. Pod is ten. It's rare that kids that old are adopted. It'll be a lot of work. You won't be able to sneak out for sex or bring your partners home."</p><p>"Why would I need that? Also, everything can be explained to a kid. I'm sure there are books and classes… Hey. We can have a family, Brienne. A good, loving family. We'll love the kid, my father will make sure we never want for anything…"</p><p>"And will stop pestering you… so will mine." Brienne sighs. "Ok, let's do it."</p><p>"Can we have sex, though?" Jaime asks meekly.</p><p>"When we're married and you get old and blind."</p><p>"That's sad. Don't you want to have sex with me?"</p><p>"I don't know, Jaime. You're a friend. I don't know. Honestly…"</p><p>"It's alright. Let's get this thing done!" He tugs her back inside, both giddy and heartbroken, because yes, leave it to him to never propose to the woman he loves until she needs him for his cismale status… And she doesn't even need him that much. She just doesn't want Pod to grow up before he gets a proper family.</p><p> </p><p>***</p><p> </p><p>Most nights Jaime wakes up at around two in the morning. It's exactly the hour he lost his hand at. He wakes up in pain and cold sweat. Sometimes he calls Brienne, sometimes she calls him as if she knew… Jaime is sure she does, but it's too romantic and Brienne will kill him if he says something like that to her. </p><p>Memories flood his head so hard he wants to rip it off or get drunk or get lost or just to have died there and then.</p><p> </p><p>***</p><p> </p><p>He loved being a war journalist, he really did. There was adrenaline and there was a feeling that he was doing the right thing. </p><p>That job, his last as a war journalist, began just like any other - there were rumours about torture at the base in Mereen, and Jaime had been working in Essos for long enough to know whom to trust. He trusted Varys because Varys was an invaluable insider source and he never let Jaime get into more trouble than was strictly necessary. </p><p>He met Brienne there, at the base. Turned out, she heard the rumours too. Her source, as he would learn later, was general Selmy himself, which he would deny vehemently. It would almost cost Brienne her career. And her life. </p><p>They were immediately at odds, but they started working together when they realised that the scope of the problem was too much for each of them to handle. Brienne managed to get the word out, but she was and remains a noble and honest person, incapable of lying or thinking badly about someone without evidence. </p><p>They were dragged to the general Targaryen's quarters. His cronies threatened to rape Brienne, or rather they tried to rape her. She broke a few arms and ribs and one neck. Jaime had never been more aroused in his life…</p><p>And then Targaryen shot her. </p><p>And then Jaime bounced on the old fuck and tried to wrestle the gun out of his hands - only to have his own hand shot off. In rage and in pain, Jaime kept hitting the general's head against the floor until he stopped breathing. </p><p>They fled the base. Brienne supported him and paid no attention to her own wound. He'd learn later that her pain tolerance was much higher than his - she had been mocked and attacked her entire life, she had learned to fight and to ignore. </p><p>They fled the base…</p><p>Jaime, the Jaime in his flat, the one he rents with his salary, rubs his face, but the Jaime delirious with pain, that Jaime is stumbling down endless corridors and blocks, supported by Brienne who's wounded herself, who didn't say a single good word to Jaime, who kept repeating that he talks too much and tries to please everyone, she is holding him and tugs him along, sweet talking him into every step.</p><p>They had been invited to that meeting with Targaryen late at night, so there's hardly anyone to stop them, and if someone tries, Brienne… handles them. She's fierce, she snarls and fights and curses everyone. </p><p>They make it to some room where Brienne hastily takes care of his hand… There's no hand, though. She takes care of his stump and carries him out into the desert. She has managed to grab some water and a phone which will definitely be traced.</p><p>"Pretty boy," she calls, and there's no disdain there. She's scared - but she keeps carrying him forward. "You must be good with technology. Come on. We need to contact someone…"</p><p>Jaime is barely conscious, but he manages to contact his father - and he's sure that he won't move a finger for him, because he never does, he always leaves Jaime to fend for himself when Jaime's troubles can't help Tywin's political agenda. He says so to Brienne.</p><p>"He supported you when you came out as bi," she says. She cuddles him, warms him, holds him so gently and so tight. </p><p>"Because he needed the LGBTQIA support. Not because he… approves. Or cares."</p><p>Brienne shushes him. She tells him about her own dad, old-fashioned and narrow-minded, she says, but he has been supporting her since the day she came out as trans, and she did it when she was five.</p><p>"He couldn't understand, you know. Said, "but you always play with cars and guns and swords", but he went online and he read things, he learned. It takes them some time, but a good parent always comes around."</p><p>"I envy you."</p><p>"Well, you should, I stopped bleeding and you somehow can't!"</p><p>"When I was sixteen, my sister came to my room. My twin sister. She… she told me we were meant to be together and she… slept with me."</p><p>"She raped you, Jaime." Brienne says it in horror, she holds him even closer. </p><p>"I was foolish enough to tell my father. He said… he said that men don't get raped. She kept coming to me, and I never turned her down."</p><p>"I'll keep you safe," Brienne whispers to him. "I'll keep you safe, no one will ever harm you again, I swear." </p><p>It's terribly cold, Jaime can feel each and every one of his bones, he's losing blood, and the woman who's spent so much time telling him she couldn't care less about his golden boy status, about his connections or his arrogance or his multiple awards, she holds him through the night. </p><p>They run out of water the next morning, but she's so stubborn, she doesn't care. She doesn't listen to him when he tells her to leave him, she doesn't listen to him when he insults her, when he tells her that she's not a real woman… She does slap him but only in order to keep him awake. </p><p>Tywin comes for them, personally. It's all about protecting the freedom of speech of course and so forth, but he does come for them and it's Brienne who carries Jaime into the helicopter. </p><p>It's also Brienne who drags him to the King's Landing Times and vouches for him so they hire him. </p><p>It's Brienne who shoves him into a therapist's office and wipes away his tears and snot after each meeting.</p><p>Jaime looks at the clock. It's almost three in the morning and he doesn't really care for his father's rest. Tywin should never be able to sleep well. Or win elections.</p><p>"What's wrong, son?" Tywin asks. </p><p>"I'm getting married."</p><p>"To Ms Tarth, I hope."</p><p>"Yes. How very accepting of you."</p><p>There's a long pause. "She saved your life. She scared me. She did. I've never seen anyone protecting you as fiercely as she did. She's a good woman. Honourable and just."</p><p>"Wow. What happened to you, father? Are you drunk?"</p><p>Another long pause. "Jaime, I didn't know. I really didn't think it was possible for a woman to rape a man."</p><p>It's Jaime's turn to pause. </p><p>"But you took care of her, didn't you?" Tywin isn't asking, he's begging. </p><p>"Yes. I took care of her and her husband, and now they are somewhere far avoiding extradition. It's not about me, though, is it? It's about her and Robert's financial crimes."</p><p>"You're better now, though. You are, right?"</p><p>"I'm marrying Brienne."</p><p>"I'm… I'm glad. Do you… do you two need any help? Anything…"</p><p>"They refuse to let her adopt the kid she's been fighting for. It's been two years. They say they can't let a trans woman adopt. I'm marrying her so that she… so that we can be a family."</p><p>"I'll wipe them out. Give me the name of the agency. No… you finalize the adoption, then I want them… out."</p><p>"No. We will fight on our own."</p><p>"Is there anything I can do?"</p><p>"No, I don't think so. Good night, dad." He hangs up before Tywin can answer. </p><p>
  <em> "But I consented!" </em>
</p><p>
  <em> "You didn't, Jaime. When someone comes to a young child who's lonely and grieving, and tells that child that they are that someone's soulmate… do you think that child thinks clearly? It wasn't a stranger, Jaime. It was your twin. Someone you trusted and loved. Can you tell me that you thought clearly?" </em>
</p><p>
  <em> "But I didn't scream. Didn't call for help." </em>
</p><p>
  <em> "You did call for help. It's not your fault, Jaime. It never is a survivor's fault. Never. Consent is complex, consent is sexy. Nothing about what's been done to you is sexy." </em>
</p><p>
  <em> "She hated me when I came back… one-handed." </em>
</p><p>
  <em> "Because she never loved you. People who love you… they care about your mind more than they care about your body. She's a deeply traumatized person herself, Jaime, but the choices she made, they are her own." </em>
</p><p>Jaime goes to the kitchen for some water. His therapist's voice is clear and condemning in his head, but he can't agree with it. It was his fault and his alone, not Cersei's, not his sweet sister's fault that he didn't reject her. He should have. He should have.</p><p>When Brienne touched him, it was gentle, it was careful, it was healing. It was a discovery of the touch. </p><p>Jaime calls Brienne. </p><p>"Hey! Can't sleep either?"</p><p>"I can't."</p><p>"Memories?"</p><p>"Yes."</p><p>"Well… remember how after the hospital we decided that we'd make some new ones?"</p><p>"You decided. I just… tagged along as usual."</p><p>"Yes. But you enjoyed it."</p><p>Brienne talks about how they went to a fair and ate sweet popcorn and cotton candy. </p><p>Jaime remembers her face, sans foundation or lipstick. Her astonishing blue eyes. How could anyone ever call her ugly? She's the most beautiful person Jaime has ever seen. Especially when she had some sugar on the tip of her nose, when they looked at the bright lights of the city below them.</p><p>"What's your first investigation, then?" She asks. Jaime is doing investigations because Brienne has vouched for him. He raged and told her she's doing it out of pity, but she said she'd slap him again if he goes on like that. She didn't mean it, to his surprise. </p><p>He does his first investigation about Cersei and her husband. He knows he's petty and vengeful, but Brienne and the editor, Targaryen's daughter as it happens, support him, and Brienne says it's fine. She says he deserves a revenge. She says she'd love to avenge herself, but - and she shrugs - she's done it since she's an award winning journalist and does some good work. </p><p>"You here, Jaime?"</p><p>"Yes. Just remembering…"</p><p>"You still haven't told me about Sansa taking you shopping."</p><p>"Oh… so remember your birthday, last year?"</p><p>"Sure… no way! You were in it? You agreed to drag me to karaoke?"</p><p>"You loved it and you were fantastic. You're a fantastic woman, Brienne, and I'm very lucky to have met you."</p><p>"Cut it! What did you shop for?"</p><p>"Sansa's outfit. She wanted something genderbending and she tested her choices on me."</p><p>"Wait, you're shorter than me and Sansa is as tall as I am!"</p><p>"Nah, she's shorter than you too. It's just the heels."</p><p>"I love the heels."</p><p>"I don't know how you girls do it. But I looked really pretty in that jumpsuit. Do you want me to wear it for our wedding?"</p><p>"Are we having a wedding now?"</p><p>"Wait, we aren't? No embarrassing relatives? No drunken friends?"</p><p>"Alright, we're having that wedding. Your father is paying for it."</p><p>"Then it will have wedding singers and… no jazz, I'm afraid."</p><p>"Ok, we're paying for it."</p><p>"Do you love me, Brienne?"</p><p>"Of course I do, you idiot."</p><p>"Enough to marry me?"</p><p>"Quite enough, yes."</p><p>"It can't be easy for you."</p><p>"Why, because I'm a trans?"</p><p>"No, because you deserve a grand love affair."</p><p>"They never end well. And we have a kid to raise. It's more important."</p><p>Jaime can't argue with that.</p>
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